CU-ICAR researchers taking their ideas to Silicon Valley

CLEMSON — Two Clemson University researchers are working on new applications for “connected cars” as automakers begin producing more vehicles that can go online while on the road.

Pablo Sauras-Perez hopes “ParkinGain” will help drivers find the best parking spots based on their own preferences and allow them to feed the meter without going back to their cars.

Andrea Gil is working on a shopping application, “Ready2Pick,” that would allow drivers to keep traveling down the road as they order fast-food and groceries from businesses with drive-through service.

While both applications are just beginning to move out of the conceptual phase, they have a good start.

Sauras-Perez and Gil submitted their ideas to the Global Connected Car Contest 2013 and learned this month that they won two of the six categories. The contest is sponsored by Chevrolet and German software giant SAP.

“It was an international contest, so there were submissions from all over the world,” Gil said. “It means we’re doing something right.”

Winning the contest sets up the Ph.D. students to travel to Palo Alto in Silicon Valley to meet with industry experts and start work on prototypes.

Joachim Taiber, a research professor who guided the students, said the ideas struck the right balance with their business models, market opportunities and technology.

The trip to Palo Alto will give Sauras-Perez and Gil an opportunity to introduce their ideas to a larger team, including companies that could turn the concepts into reality, he said.

“I hope they can make some connections to start-up teams that bring this to the next level,” Taiber said.

Sauras-Perez is in automotive engineering, while Gil is in electrical engineering. Both are graduate research assistants who do most of their work at Clemson University-International Center for Automotive Research.

Sauras-Perez said ParkinGain would help drivers find a spot based on location, travel time and how far they would have to walk to their ultimate destination.

The application would make parking cheaper, more convenient and less-time consuming for drivers while increasing business for parking companies, he said.

Once parked, drivers would receive a message when their time is expired and have a chance to renew without going back to a meter to plug quarters into a slot.

Sauras-Perez said users would be faced with a choice: “‘Do I want to pay more to park in front of the place I’m going to? Do I want to pay less and walk five minutes?”

The app could reduce traffic congestion and emissions, Sauras-Perez said. Drivers looking for parking cause an average of 30 percent of downtown traffic in cities, according to Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California in Los Angeles.

The business would be supported by a participation fee paid by on-street and parking garage companies and shops and restaurants.

ParkinGain won in the contest’s parking category, while Ready2Pick won the food category. Sauras-Perez and Gil said their applications could be ready for market in one to three years.

Gil said that Ready2Pick is envisioned as a way for drivers and passengers to use their time while idling in traffic.

“From the moment a car is connected to the Internet, you are opening a new marketing channel for location-based services,” she said. “This will help to broaden the reach of behavioral advertising. When you are connected to the Internet, you become more aware of your surroundings and can exchange information with it.”

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